The Justice Department said Monday (July 19) that it has formally changed its policy to restrict the use of “compulsory processes” — such as subpoenas — to get information or records from members of the press on activities in the course of doing their jobs and in the “scope” of newsgathering.

The policy, effective immediately, was announced in a memo to department staff leadership by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Garland has asked a deputy attorney general to look into codifying the policy into department regulations to ensure the “durability” of the change, and added that he supports legislation that would protect the news media.

The Justice Department had already announced that it would not be issuing subpoenas for reporters' records in leak investigations.

The changes in policy followed a report in The New York Times that not only was the Biden White House continuing the pursuit of records from Times reporters, a holdover from a Trump-era investigation, but that it had issued a gag order preventing the publisher’s executives from talking about the matter, even to its own staff.

CNN also reported that the Trump administration had obtained phone records and email messages from the network’s correspondents as part of leak investigations.

Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Patrick Leahy (Vt.) have introduced a bill, named in honor of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, to ensure that governments are held accountable for human rights abuses committed against journalists.

The bill is supported by Reporters Without Borders; PEN America; Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Also Read: WGAE Condemns Trump's Mocking Praise of Attacks on Press

While the bill would help secure justice for electronic and print journalists generally, it has a specific target--the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a resident of the United States who was working for the Washington Post when he was murdered at the direction of the Saudis due to his writings critical of the government. 

The Jamal Khashoggi Press Freedom Accountability Act would "include targeted sanctions, restrict foreign aid, and increase reporting on human rights abuses committed against journalists by foreign governments."

The Trump Administration has drawn criticism from the journalism community for not taking such steps to sanction the Saudi government and for defending the crown prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, even after his own CIA concluded that the prince had ordered the killing.

Also Read: President Signs Daniel Pearl Freedom of Press Act

“This legislation, named in honor of the late Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, would build upon the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act to strengthen the United States’ commitment to hold to account those who would target journalists for violence and persecution,” said bill supporter Rep. Adam Schiff. 

Pearl was the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered in 2002 while covering Islamic extremists in Pakistan. He had once covered the media beat in Washington so was well known in communications journalism circles.

The digital news business has joined Epic Games in pushing back on Apple for the revenue-sharing terms it demands for distribution through its App Store. 

“The terms of Apple’s unique marketplace greatly impact the ability to continue to invest in high-quality, trusted news and entertainment particularly in competition with other larger firms,” wrote Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, in a letter sent Thursday to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Digital Content Next is a trade organization representing the New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and other news publishers. (The Wall Street Journal originally reported on the letter.)

Also read: Apple Escalates Epic Games Tiff, Threatens to Pull Developer Access

Kint’s letter comes a week after Epic Games, publisher of the popular online video game Fortnite, sued both Apple and Google over an industry-wide practice in which the app stores of the tech giants collect 30% of first-year subscription fees when apps for paid services are downloaded through their digital stores. (The rev share rate drops to 15% after year one.)

For Digital Content Next, one of the major points of consternation is that not everyone pays 30%. 

In his letter to Cook, Kint cited an email sent from Apple services chief Eddie Cue to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, outlining a 15% revenue split for Amazon Prime Video subscribers when they download the Prime Video app through Apple’s App Store. (Bezos also owns the Washington Post.)

“I ask that you clearly define the conditions that Amazon satisfied for its arrangement so that DCN’s member companies meeting those conditions can be offered the same agreement,” Kint wrote.

Apple hasn’t publicly responded to DCN’s letter. Apple did respond last week, when it pulled Epic Games’ app from its digital following the game maker’s bold, strategic move to direct its users to its own site to purchase in-store game currency, instead of buying it through Apple. That was the move that kicked off this whole app-store revolt.

“Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services,” Apple said in an August 14 statement. 

Whether this pushback continues to grow, or is quashed by Apple and Google, has significant implications for the video streaming industry, most of which is subject to the same 30% revenue share dogma that dates back to the early days of video gaming, when Japanese console manufacturers charged game makers for the rights to have game cartridges supported by their platforms. 

Epic Games, which generates a reported $1 billion in annual revenue from selling in-game extras, has called the app store fees a “tax.”

Notably, Netflix already started pushing back several years ago, when it disabled new users from signing up for its SVOD services through apps it downloaded from Apple’s App Store, instead directing them to its own website. 

Longtime Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer died Thursday after a bout with cancer, the network said.

In a statement, Fox News said Krauthammer – who joined Fox News in the mid 2000s while continuing to serve as a columnist for the Washington Post, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in for commentary in 1987 -- was an “inspiration to all of us and will be greatly missed." 

Krauthammer's death comes nearly two weeks after announcing he only had "a few weeks left to live" in a farewell letter that appeared in the Post.   

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend, Charles Krauthammer," said the Fox News in the statement. "A gifted doctor and brilliant political commentator, Charles was a guiding voice throughout his time with Fox News and we were incredibly fortunate to showcase his extraordinary talent on our programs. He was an inspiration to all of us and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his beloved wife Robyn and his son Daniel."

The network on Friday will air a special Charles Krauthammer: His Words, which will include reflections on Krauthammer’s life and work by Fox News on-air personalities and contributors Bret Baier, Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Fred Barnes, and George Will, according to the network.

Baier tweeted Thursday night regarding Krauthammer's death: "R.I.P. good friend. I am sure you will be owning the panel discussion in heaven as well." 

[embed]https://twitter.com/BretBaier/status/1009922645377339393[/embed]

NCTA: The Internet & Television Association took out a full page ad in the Washington Post today (May 17) to commit to an open Internet.

That came as the FCC prepares to vote May 18 on new chairman Ajit Pai's controversial proposal to reverse the Title II common carrier designation of ISPs and rethink the 2015 Open Internet order rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.

In the ad, the signatories, comprising 21 ISPs member of NCTA and the American Cable Association, said by open Internet they meant they "do not block, throttle or otherwise impair your online activity," and said they stood by that commitment.

"As providers of broadband internet service in many communities across America, we've always been committed to an open internet that gives you the freedom to be in charge of your online experience. And that will not change," the ad pledged.

One suggestion for enforcing such pledges after reclassification would be for the Federal Trade Commission to enforce such a voluntary ISP pledge of openness.

Signing on to the ad were Altice, Armstrong, Boycom, Buckeye, Cable ONE, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox, Eagle, GCI, MCTV, Mediacom, MetroCast, Midco, RCN Grande, Service Electric CAblevision, Shentel, Sjoberg's TDS, Vast Broadband, Vyve Broadband.

President Donald Trump attacked new polls from ABC and NBC as fake news and "totally wrong in general" Monday morning (April 24), only 12 hours after saying new polls were "very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative" and quoting stats from an ABC News/Washington Post poll, in which 53% of respondents said he was a strong leader

He also continued to maintain he would have won the popular vote, a curious claim that surfaces periodically, tweeting the assertion "Would still beat Hillary in popular vote," though it was unclear what he meant since Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote by several million.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday (April 23) found that 54% disapproved of the job President Trump is doing, compared with 40% who approved. The poll found that 82% of Republicans approved of his job performance to date (he marks his first 100 days in office April 29), while only 30% of Independents and just 7% of Democrats approved.

Only 50% of respondents in the NBC/WSJ poll gave Trump high marks for being firm and decisive, down from 57% in a February poll. He got "honest and trustworthy" high marks from only 25%, down from 34% in February.

The poll was conducted April 17-20 among 900 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

The ABC/WaPo poll found that 42% approved of Trump's performance as president vs. 53% who disapproved, compared with an average approval/disapproval split of 69%/19% for past presidents in the first 100-days window.

Just 37% approve of Trump's plans for changes in federal spending --which include cuts to the EPA and state funding as well as zeroing out federal funding for noncommercial TV and radio stations, among others. And only 34% approved of his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner having major posts in the administration.

But the poll had some "brighter" spots for the president, finding that 73% approved of his pressuring companies to stay in the U.S., and the 53% who said he was a strong leader. In addition, 96% of Republicans who voted for Trump said they would do it again, so there was no buyer's remorse, as the poll put it.

The ABC/WaPo poll was conducted April 17-20, in English and Spanish, among a random sample of 1,004 adults. The margin of error is 3.5 points.

Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are in a "dead heat," according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, released early Wednesday (Nov. 2).

Each had 46% of likely voters, compared with Clinton's 50% to Trump's 38% only Oct. 23. A majority of voters (55%) still expect Clinton to win, but that was down 5 points from last week.

The closeness of that poll was drawing a lot of attention, coming only days after FBI director James Comey made the controversial call to publicly announce the bureau was looking at some new e-mails--from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, that might be relevant to its previously closed investigation into Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.

Six out of 10 likely voters disapproved of the way Clinton had responded to the e-mail issue.

But ABC also pointed out that Mitt Romney was ahead of Barack Obama in a similar 2012 tracking poll a week before the election, as was John Kerry versus George Bush.

The survey found Clinton had lost ground in the "more honest than Trump" department, down 14 points with independents, 13 points with moderates and 10 points with Democrats, changes that could be related to the Comey announcement, ABC said.

The poll was conducted by landline and cell phone Oct. 28-31 in both English and Spanish among a random sample of 1,182 likely voters. the margin of error is plus or minus 3 points.